Monday, June 21, 2010

Two Mrs. Fix-Its

Wow, what a week! I have been running nonstop since last Tuesday, when my mom arrived, until I was able to crash yesterday afternoon after everyone left. It’s been a whirlwind, but a wonderful, crazy, hilarious whirlwind.
I have countless stories to tell of all of our crazy antics, and they will not all fit onto one post, nor do I have the time today to write about all that we did. So- I will start with my Friday, and fill you in later on the remainder of the weekend.

So Friday.

Friday was any typical day at work until Lauren arrived and realized that she had a flat tire. So, being the “fix-it” girls that we are, we decided to go take a look at the damage. (You can read her side of the story here.) Her tire didn’t look that flat, so I figured it was just a little low on air, but what do I know about cars? NOTHING. I suggested we drive it around the corner to the LUPD Office, to get a professional opinion.
Little did I know that not only are these guys NOT professionals, they don’t have a CLUE when it comes to cars. After this guy told us that we DID need to change our tire, he couldn't even figure out how to open the jack, so he asked to read through the manual to the car. Apparently, that didn't help either, and he suggested we call a towing company. Seriously?? A TOWING company? Do we look like we're made of money? And what policeman, security guard, MAN doesn't know how to change a tire?
But, Lauren and I were not discouraged. Nope. We just got right to work, doing what we could remember from Driver's Ed classes years ago. Actually, Lauren did the work. I was the trusty photographer.
But, no worries, another policeman walked by and said he would come help us as soon as he clocked-in to work. We didn't really have time to wait, so we continued working while the police officer made his way inside, promising to return.
Before the police officer returned, a police woman approached us to find out if we needed any help. Actually, she also suggested we call the towing company, and told us if we needed any help, she'd be inside. A lot of help that is! 
                                          
By this time, we already had the car lifted up, the hubcap off, and the outside bolts removed. The police man who had promised to return, came back, stopped by the car, and said due to liability reasons, he was unable to help us. Have you ever in your life heard such a crazy thing? A police officer, unable to help 2 women trying to change a tire because the police department didn't want to be held liable? If police officers can't help in situations like this, what CAN they do? We don't exactly live in a high crime area, and these are campus policemen, so I'm sure they aren't out there fighting crime.
After we spent a few minutes fuming, the original guy returned, and was surprised to see us still working on the car. We explained that we had done everything we were physically able to do, and just needed some muscle to help remove the remaining bolts. He tried- he really did, even after explaining that he wasn't supposed to help us, but he was still unable to remove the bolts. His guy was HUGE. He must just have weak arms?
Finally, after we realized that our She-Woman powers had worn off, and there was no way we were going to get the bolts off, I called David, an employee from our office to just happens to be close to 7 feet tall. I figured he would have a few tricks up his sleeves. David came right down, suit and all, and immediately got to work, removing the bolts. He even gave us a few handy tips along the way. FYI- Take the bolts off before you lift up the car.
Daivd was able to get the tire off, and Lauren helped to secure the spare.
We lowered the jack, to discover...

The SPARE was flat!!!
So- back to square 1.

We had to start from scratch, remove the spare tire and put the original flat tire back on. During this process, I found our culprit. A nail. Lauren then drove the car to the tire place and had it patched for $12.
What a crazy experience!  Thanks David! Thanks for nothing LUPD.
And what was I doing this entire time?
Being an encourager of course!
A job well done!

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6 comments:

  1. Sorry I wasn't there to help! Some help LUPD was, good to know they're so helpful...

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  2. I guess that instead of eating cinammon rolls we should have watched Dallas change the tire on my Jeep down in Atlantic Station.

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  3. Well you noticed that I pretty much did the same thing this time. Just sit back and watch. Haha! I seem to be pretty good at that.

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  4. Hi Emily,

    I swear I posted a comment to answer your questions for can't for the life of me find it! My email is ob.kathryn@gmail.com. If you'd like to send me an email I can give you some ideas and the more info the project I work with.

    Thanks!
    Katie

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  5. That is crazy! My daddy was a police officer for 17 years and changed many flat tires for people. By the way, I love reading your posts! :-)

    Britney Fulghum

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  6. Thank you Britney! I hope you and Michael are doing well! How'd your second year of teaching go?

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